The Essence of Magic
by Souvenir
Summary: Upon realizing his affections for Haruhi, Tamaki confesses his undying love. Upon rejecting his offer, Haruhi lets slip that she was convinced he was gay. Full summary inside.
1. Chapter 1

** The Essence of Magic**

**summary: Upon realizing his affections for Haruhi, Tamaki declares his undying love. Upon rejecting his offer, Haruhi lets slip that she was convinced he was gay. In a misguided attempt (because let's face it, he's a pretty misguided guy) to attain true love Tamaki turns to an unlikely source: the black magic club. **

**a/n: so, this is going to be a very light piece.(maybe?) I really hope you'll all enjoy it, it will be a chapter fic. Ouran High School Host Club is the property of Hatori Bisco. Who I am not. **

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Tamaki couldn't say for sure when it had all began.

Only that it had, and that it was continuing, a great water wheel that was spinning rapidly out of control, splashing into the parts of his life that he preferred kept away from the mundane.

He couldn't tell if it was the way she smelled, though of course she smelled like sunshine to him, like vanilla, like anything bright or good in the world.

It might have been in the way she walked, with a slight spring in her step if she was happy, or with dragging feet if he had said something careless or if she was displeased for another reason he couldn't begin to fathom. (Though of course he would try, and only further her agitation.)

Maybe it was the way she looked.

And, oh, the way she looked! Her eyes were like chocolate, warming him whenever they lit upon his face. Her lips rivaled the softness of a flower's petals (this was of course pure imagination, but he didn't care---it must be true). Her cheeks a light peach color, blending so swiftly into cherry should anything happen to fluster her. Her face was white, no, her face was porcelain, and her features were to his sight the most delicate in all the world.

All of this was fact. Solid stone, permanently stamped across his mind.

Haruhi Fujioka was Tamaki Suoh's true love.

She _had _to be.

It had come as a shock, a realization, some two weeks ago at three in the morning.

But after spending every waking minute confessing his love, and begging her to be his as he was positive she should be, she would only say----to him! To her white prince, her knight in shining armor!---

"Get away from me, you pervert!"

And he couldn't understand it. Who did she expect to end up with, he had asked in indignation. Mori? Mori didn't like girls. Hunny? He was far too young. Kyoya? Well, now, that was practically incest, wasn't it? Kyoya was her mother. And the twins? They were obviously gay. Possibly even together.

In fact, he had gone so far as to complain that he was the _only _straight man in the Ouran High School Host Club, not to mention its honorable King, and since he was also madly in love with her then it was a match made in heaven.

Tamaki slumped against the wall of the fountain.

Because it had been at that point that the waves had come crashing down.

After that statement Haruhi had looked at him with her mouth (her beautiful mouth!) wide open, her eyes (such a pretty color!) in a state of shock.

"But, of course you're gay, Tamaki," she had said.

"And the rest was history," Tamaki whispered, sparkling tears filling his eyes.

"Pick yourself up," A cool voice commanded. "And don't be an idiot. That happened ten minutes ago, I was standing right there."

"Kyoya! How dare you eavesdrop on such a private conversation between Haruhi and I?!" Tamaki leapt to his feet.

"You were shouting."

"Oh. Well, it was traumatic."

Upon remembering the incident, he forgot his pride and crumpled to the floor once more.

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**a/n: thank you for reading, I appreciate any and all feedback. **


	2. Chapter 2

**a/n: Hi there! This is chapter two of The Essence of Magic. I'd like to thank everybody who reviewed, you guys are awesome. Ouran High School Host Club is the property of Hatori Bisco, who I am not. I hope you enjoy reading. **

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**Chapter Two**

The next few days were despair, by and large. His normal state----oblivious bliss---was thoroughly and irreversibly shattered.

The great water wheel, previously spinning out of control, had come to a complete halt. Droplets ran slowly down its sides as if in proof of his misery.

He had, of course, wanted to talk to her----to ask her if it was all a mistake, if perhaps she was thinking of Kaoru, if she had meant to say, "of course you're _not _gay."

Yes. Yes, that had to be the answer---it was a mistake. He was Tamaki Suoh. He was as straight as an arrow. Of that, he was positive.

Had he not spent hours doodling her name over every scrap of paper he could get his hands on? Had he not envisioned her in the loveliest shades of sheer gowns? Was he not constantly dreaming of her eyelashes, of the graceful lines of her ankles, of the sweet sound of her laughter as it echoed through the walls of his grand club?

Of course.

And more, much more, to the point that he was sure there was no such level of infatuation higher than his own.

And thus, the mere idea----

Him? _Gay? _

Laughable.

The pair of ginger haired twins watched as their Lord laughed to himself in his dark corner, exchanging a worried glance. They looked in unison over to where Haruhi was entertaining a group of yellow clad girls. Every once in a while, she would look over to the corner, and a flash of a foreign emotion would fall upon her face.

"Hikaru. Thoughts?"

"Annoyance."

"No, we know what that looks like."

"She looks wary."

"As if something happened."

"But not something big."

"It looks like it was big to him."

"So, they were talking---"

"---and she said something---"

"Something that was common sense--"

"---which must have hurt his feelings."

"Hence,"

"Guilt." They said at the same time.

"Kaoru?"

"Yeah. I know."

"This could be fun."

Tamaki looked up from his laughing only when he felt a shadow upon his head.

"Haruhi?" He looked up hopefully, prepared to spring to his feet and smooth the whole incident over.

"Wrong," One of the twins said.

Tamaki blinked.

"My lord, it hasn't escaped our notice that you seem--"

"---distraught. If you tell us what happened between you and Haruhi, maybe we could help."

Tamaki's eyes filled with tears of gratitude.

"Hikaru! Kaoru! You would really do that for me?"

The twins looked at each other.

"Why not? We're bored."

"I see….well actually, I had just come to the conclusion of my problem."

"What problem?"

"The problem that Haruhi is under the impression that I'm---like you."

"A twin?"

"No, not that." A twin? Wasn't their condition more obvious? Of course, Tamaki supposed it was possible he did have a twin, maybe back in France…..she would be absolutely adorable, Tamaki decided.

"Hey, pay attention! What is it that Haruhi thinks you are?"

"She thinks I'm…." His voice dropped. His knees threatened to give out.

"My lord, we can't help you if you don't speak up."

"She thinks that I'm….."

"Spit it out!"

"Haruhi is convinced that I'm gay!" Tamaki cried dramatically, flinging one wrist against his forehead.

Half of the host club looked up from its doings.

Tamaki paused, waiting for panic, for the screams of protest, for the flock of girls to admonish Haruhi that of course he wasn't gay.

All that came was the snort of the twin's derisive laughter. They started howling, pointing at Tamaki, clutching the other's sides.

"I….I don't understand," Tamaki said brokenly.

"Think about it, my lord!" Hikaru---Kaoru---he didn't know---choked out.

"Your looks---"

"The way you talk---"

"The way you _move---"_ Both flung their hands around flamboyantly, crumpling into psuedo graceful poses on the floor.

"Anybody would come to the same conclusion."

"Ky—KYOYA!!" Tamaki shouted. "You two---stop that at once! How dare you insinuate….I'm not….I'm not gay!"

By the time Kyoya arrived at the scene, Tamaki was lying in a heap, sobbing. He glared at the twins, who twiddled their thumbs and began whistling.

"Tell them, Kyoya!"

Kyoya checked a frustrated sigh. He had better things to be doing than comforting his melodramatic fool of a friend.

"Tell them what?" He asked, trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

"Tell them I'm not gay!"

"He's not gay. Tamaki is what we call 'bi sexual.'"

The twins roared with laughter, and Tamaki's soul threatened to swoop away from the pain it was being caused.

"I'm kidding. You two---leave him alone. For your information, Haruhi rejected him a couple days ago. If you think about it, with Tamaki's penchant for amazing persistence, she probably said that to keep him from bothering her about it."

"S—she said it….because she doesn't want me _speaking _to her? But Haruhi _loves _talking to me…..I love talking to _her_…..it was a mistake. She didn't mean to say it…she's my true love!" Tamaki sniffled.

The twins looked down at him, appalled at how far their lord was taking the joke.

Of course, it was possible that he didn't know it was a joke.

Whoops, they looked at each other.

"My lord….did you just say true love?"

"Of course that's what I said, what's wrong with you? How could my love not be true? I love Haruhi more than the sky, more than the ocean, more than--"

"I see….and you told her all that, but she still rejected you?"

Tamaki didn't answer. He was tracing swirls on the floor dejectedly.

Hikaru nudged Kaoru.

"Our lord must not know."

"How could he?"

"Otherwise, he'd be perfectly happy."

Tamaki looked up at the pair suspiciously.

"What are you talking about?"

"We're talking about how to get one's true love. Don't you listen? All you have to do…"

"….is get a love potion. Of course, it only works if your love is true."

"There's no such thing," Tamaki frowned.

"Tell that to the black magic club," the twins shrugged, and walked away in step.

A potion? But he shouldn't need one! Surely, deep down, Haruhi recognized that she was his goddess, she was his white rose, that she was his destiny. Surely given the right amount of time she would come to him on her own, throw her slender arms around him, and declare in a sweet tremulous voice that she would settle for no one but him, and how could she have ever said such a terrible thing to him?

Tamaki looked over to where Haruhi was smiling at another girl.

Just like every other time he looked at her, his breath caught in his throat. She was a vision----no, she was a fantasy.

She was _his _fantasy.

"Look at him, staring at her." Kaoru muttered to Hikaru.

"Knowing my lord, he'll consider a love potion beneath him."

"Give it a few days. Let him try again, you'll see what happens."

"Such a thing doesn't even exist!"

"_He _doesn't know that."

The twins smiled smugly to themselves. It looked like things were going to get interesting.

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**a/n: thanks for reading! If you have any comments, questions, or words for me, please leave a review. **


	3. Chapter 3

**a/n: Hi there! This is chapter three of The Essence of Magic. Ouran High School Host Club is the property of Hatori Bisco, who I am not. **

**So, I thought about skipping this scene...but I think this makes it more believable. In case you're wondering it's the evening of chapter two. **

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"A new kind of soft drink?" 

Tamaki watched as Haruhi warily inspected the cup in front of her. She looked at him from the corner of her eyes, mistrust written plainly across her face. (Her wonderfully feminine and delicate face, a face surely of the same scope as that of a renaissance carved angel.)

"I don't want to drink it." She declared flatly.

"But, Haruhi---"

"I mean, what if you put something weird in it?" She emphasized the weird in a way that stung him mercilessly.

"I would never---"

"Oh? Wouldn't you?"

"No!" Tamaki yelped, painfully distraught as the situation crept swiftly from its planned action.

"Not even a love potion? I'll never be able to trust you again! I hate you, senpai!"

"N….no….!"

"Tamaki, I'm trying to study."

Tamaki looked up from his daydream at the sound of a cutting, terse voice, laced with immediate and dire threat.

It didn't take him long to realize that his overactive imagination had gotten loose again, and the glazed look in his eyes was not lost on Kyoya.

"You're thinking about Haruhi."

Tamaki watched as Kyoya set aside his book, leaning back to regard him from behind the impenetrable lenses of his glasses.

He pressed his head against his forearm for a moment.

"How could I not?" He asked softly. "She's all I ever think about. She's all I _want_….to think about."

"And? Are you going to waste your days dreaming of her? Or are you going to move on?"

"Move on!" Tamaki exclaimed, shocked. Was he truly hearing this from his dearest friend?

"I can't move on, Kyoya. There's nowhere…for me to go. Days and nights blend into fancy, the real world is receding, and if I tried to move against this fierce current, I fear my life and reason should be swept away along with everything else."

"So you're saying, option B." Kyoya pushed up his glasses.

"Excusez moi?" Tamaki was shaken out of his melodrama. "Since when does love have options?"

"Everything has options. In your case, there's option A---accept the fact that Haruhi does not feel the same way about you and continue to live your life as you always have---blundering your way through the affairs of others, stepping on the toes of officials with a smile on your face, etc, etc.

"And there is also option B: You do _not _accept Haruhi's feelings and continue to strive for her affection, despite the fact that it will undoubtedly make her all the more disagreeable."

Kyoya cast him a dark look.

"You make it sound…terrible," Tamaki muttered.

"I make it sound the way it is. I would be more sympathetic about the situation if you hadn't been the one to cause it." Kyoya checked himself when he caught the beginnings of tears. Having a distraught fool for a study buddy was bad enough. Having a distraught, _hysterical _fool on his hands was not something he was feeling up to at the moment.

"Look. I….I'm sure it will work itself out," he lied through his teeth.

Tamaki's face instantly brightened; he leapt forward and seized Kyoya around the waist, burying his head in his friend's shoulder.

"Thank you so much, Kyoya. You're right, you're absolutely right. I'll stop avoiding Haruhi, I'll talk to her tomorrow."

Sometimes even the shadow king was disgusted with himself.

Much later, after Tamaki had helped drag out the guest mat, and all the lights were off, Tamaki asked, "Kyoya?"

"What?" No doubt his friend was tired of listening to him by now, but Tamaki went on.

"Do you believe in magic?"

There was a pause of perhaps a full moment, and Tamaki wondered if Kyoya had actually fallen asleep.

"What kind of magic? I believe in sleight of hand. I believe in hypnosis." Obviously, Kyoya expected him to be referring to something else.

"Um….well…what about a love potion?" The words sounded faintly ridiculous, even to his ears.

"Tamaki. No. Just…no. Go to sleep."

Tamaki obliged, falling into a sleep made comfortable by the knowledge that should he have a nightmare along the lines of his daydream, his emotional anchor was only a whisper away.

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**a/n: Just establishing the Tamaki/ Kyoya friendship. (I imagine they sleep over often.) Expect Nekozawa in chapter four! **


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